IDEA: Internet Differential Equations Activities

IDEA is Internet Differential Equations Activities, an interdisciplinary effort to provide students and teachers around the world with computer based activities for differential equations in a wide variety of disciplines. IDEA is sponsored by the National Science Foundation with a grant from the Division of Undergraduate Education.

The Idea behind IDEA

As with every site on the Web, IDEA is evolving.
IDEA contains a database of computer activities illustrating
both mathematical concepts and the application of these concepts
in a wide variety of disciplines. The aim is to show differential
equations where they live, rather than in a purely mathematical setting.

In addition to the exercises, it provides a variety of software for
solving and describing differential equations. These packages include
DynaSys, a package for Microsoft
operating system that can be used in a very flexible way to create
displays of solutions of differential equations;
Java software that may be used over
the Web to develop your own activities,
or to work on the ones presented here; and Flash components that
again may be used to develop differential equations activities.

With the advent of HTML5, Javascript is now ready for prime time
for mathematical applications. There are
new Javascript demos
illustrating how we might use interactive web objects to
help students learn Calculus.